Office Clichés Best Forgotten in 2010

The Brooke, an equestrian welfare charity in the UK, surveyed 3,000 people to identify the most annoying office clichés of 2009. Some of my pet peeves are on this list. Let’s banish them forever! See below for the top 20 annoying clichés.  I would add “Taking it to the next level” and “Pushing the envelope”.
1. [...]

World Digital Library – April 2009

Here is a fantastic new resource, the World Digital Library , which just launched in April 2009. It makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, and includes manuscripts, maps, books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, and photographs. You can browse by place, time, [...]

LIFE Photo Archive through Google

  When I was young, my family’s subscriptions included the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Telegram, The New Yorker and LIFE magazine. The newspapers were of interest to me mainly for their comics, particularly the coloured ones that were delivered on the weekend. The stories in The New Yorker (delivered on Saturdays – we still had [...]

Feel the warmth!

A November morning at the cottage that Bernie built …

Obama Mania

My son was in Grant Park on November 4. He recorded this startling video during the moments after the announcement of the victory. (Follow along as he travels across America.)

A snowy March morning …

I’m looking out my window on a snowy March morning  and a hungry little red squirrel braves the snow …  
These seeds are soooo good …    But who is that on the other side of that window?   Uh, oh, I don’t like the look of her at all …  Better get away from her and score [...]

Languages, living, dying and constructed …

Are you fascinated by the diversity of languages in the world, and saddened by how many of them are dying? According to the National Geographic, a language dies every two weeks. Why does this matter?
Language defines a culture, through both the people who speak it and what it allows speakers to say. Words that describe [...]

I wonder who’s at the watering hole?

   Ever since a friend sent me a link to africam.com, I’ve been hooked. This is a webcam that shows Nkorho Pan, a watering hole in South Africa. The site includes sound and is on day and night. I have seen and heard birds and insects, bats, a lightning storm, the moon shining on the [...]

Brave Squirrel

1. The approach …    2. Mmmm … Those look good!   
3. Got one!     4. Why is that woman staring at me?  

A Canadian Thanksgiving

Here are some photographs taken earlier this month during one day on Thanksgiving weekend, from about 6:00 am to 7:00 pm. This beautiful river is located in the Canadian Shield.  I wish you could smell the misty morning air and hear the birds that I heard, particularly the squawk of the Great Blue Heron who flew right over me. [...]